The continental shelf that now lies beneath the Atlantic on Florida’s eastern coast was exposed, part of a broader terrestrial environment that modern residents of the state would not recognize.

The implications for the ecology of the interior were significant.

A lower sea level means a lower water table, which means that some bodies of water that exist today may not have existed then, and some areas that are now wetlands may have been drier uplands.

The vegetation communities of the Early Archaic Florida interior were somewhat different from those of today — cooler average temperatures and different moisture regimes would have supported different mixes of plant species.

The animals available to the Windover community were broadly similar to modern Florida fauna, but with differences.